Women’s soccer opened their 2004 campaign with a thrilling 1-0 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson University on Sept. 3 at a tournament hosted by Johns Hopkins University.
Sophomore Emily Urbanczyk scored the winning goal late in the first sudden-death overtime period to give the Yellowjackets the dramatic win.
Both teams battled through a grueling defensive game, with Rochester outshooting Dickinson 13 to 2.
In overtime, UR received a throw-in deep in Dickinson territory. Senior Kristin Kelly connected with Urbanczyk, who drove to the top of the box and scored the game-winning goal at the 98:25 mark to snap the tie and advance the Yellowjackets to the championship game on Sept. 5.
Recollecting the team’s attitude, Urbanczyk commented, “Going into overtime, the whole team was really fired up because we came so close to scoring so many times in regulation. We knew we just had to keep playing hard and together and try to find the back of the net.”
Junior Adrienne Hulchanski made two saves on Johns Hopkins’ only two shots on goal to pick up the shutout.
Next up for the Yellowjackets was tournament host Johns Hopkins on Sept. 5 for the tournament championship.
JHU advanced after defeating Mount Union of Ohio 3-0 in the first round.
Johns Hopkins scored two early goals and held on for a 2-0 victory in the tournament championship game.
They scored their first goal in the game at the seven-minute mark.
Shortly after that, JHU freshman Kim Lane collected her first collegiate goal, putting her team up 2-0. Each team took five shots on goal.
Hulchanski, named to the University Athletic Association All-Academic Team last year as a sophomore, made two saves. Jen Goebel had two saves for Johns Hopkins.
Even though the Yellowjackets returned to Rochester with a 1-1 record, the team gained some experience playing top-caliber teams so early in the season.
“Playing Hopkins in their tournament showed us that we are going to have to work hard to contend with strong, physical teams this season,” Urbanczyk said.
UR opens its home season on Sept. 11 at 12 p.m. against St. John Fisher College at Fauver Stadium.
Both teams will go into Saturday’s contest with a 1-1 record.
St. John Fisher lost their first game against St. Joseph College with a score of 3-1, but rebounded with a 1-0 overtime win over New York University.
Rovinsky can be reached at mrovinsky@campustimes.org.
